(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed slightly higher on Thursday after bouncing around the parity line throughout the day, with sentiment influenced by the day's macroeconomic data.

While Eurozone inflation and unemployment remained stable, consumer prices in Italy rose 5.5 percent in August, less than the previous month's 5.9 percent.

In the U.S., meanwhile, initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 228,000 in the week ended Aug. 26, down 4,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised 232,000, according to the Labor Department. The latest figure is lower than the market consensus cited by FXStreet, which expected an increase to 235,000.

U.S. core PCE prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.2 percent on a monthly basis in July, the same pace as in June and in line with market expectations. The data were released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of statistics.

The annual rate -- the Federal Reserve's preferred indicator for measuring inflation -- rose slightly as expected to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent in June.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, commented, "Although today's PCE data fell short of expectations, the in-line numbers were enough to push stocks as the end of August approaches. While rate cuts are clearly off the table, the prospect of reaching the end of the year without further hikes in the U.S. has spurred new stock purchases. Falling yields have increased the attractiveness of stocks, which are closing the month in much better shape than was the case a week ago."

The FTSE Mib closed down 0.3 percent to 28,831.52, the Mid-Cap finished up 0.5 percent to 42,430.92, the Small-Cap gained 0.2 percent to 27,359.27, and Italy Growth fell 0.4 percent to 8,883.52.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent as did Paris' CAC 40 while Frankfurt's DAX 40 rose 0.6 percent.

On the blue chip list CNH Industrial closed among the best, up 2.2 percent, in an upward trend for the fifth consecutive session.

Best of all, however, was Iveco, up 3.7 percent, while Saipem closed down 4.6 percent after announcing Thursday morning that it had successfully completed the placement of EUR500 million of equity-linked senior unsecured guaranteed bonds maturing in 2029.

The net proceeds of the placement will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinancing a portion of existing debt, a company note said. The bonds will have a coupon with a fixed annual rate of 2.875 percent, payable on a semi-annual basis in arrears. The conversion price is EUR2.0487 and incorporates a 37.5 percent conversion premium applied to the placement price of the so-called Delta Placement shares in the Concurrent Delta Placement.

Intesa Sanpaolo gave up 1.2 percent. On Thursday, it announced a cash tender offer to repurchase all or part of its perpetual bond "EUR750,000,000 Additional Tier 1 Notes" with a total outstanding nominal amount of EUR750 million and the launch of a new issue of a fixed-rate reset Additional Tier 1 perpetual bond with a nominal amount of not less than EUR750 million.

On the Mid-Cap, Webuild closed the session on top, up 9.5 percent, in its fifth straight session among the bullish.

The stock rose after Snowy Hydro, the developer of the Snowy 2.0 project in Australia-the largest Australian hydropower project, 100% owned by Webuild after its acquisition of Clough-announced Thursday morning that it was revising the contract.

According to Equita analysts, this is "clearly positive news" for Webuild: "With the revision of the award value of the work (the final value recognized to Webuild has yet to be announced but we believe it to be a large part of the AUD12 billion indicated) and especially the revision of the contract model from fixed cost to incentivized target cost, the perceived risk on one of the largest and most complex contracts in Webuild's order book is lessened," reads a research note.

In fact, as reported by Reuters, the expansion of Australia's largest hydropower project will now cost AUD12 billion -- or USD7.77 billion --, nearly doubling the price of the renewable energy project, plagued by delays, at a time when Australia urgently needs to replace mothballed coal-fired power plants.

Iren rose 1.4 percent. The board Wednesday co-opted Paolo Emilio Signorini and appointed him as its new chief executive officer and general manager, following Gianni Vittorio Armani's June 12 resignation.

The appointment follows the formal indication made by the union committee of Iren's public shareholders composed of Marco Bucci, mayor of Genoa; Stefano Lo Russo, mayor of Turin; and Luca Vecchi, mayor of Reggio Emilia.

On the bottom, Saras dropped 4.2 percent, despite Marshall Wace cutting its short position on the stock to 1.61 percent from 1.82 percent.

On the Small-Cap, Fidia rose 0.8%, rearing its head again after two bearish sessions.

Good buying also on Beewize, which closed up 9.0%, bringing the price to EUR0.6460.

FNM - down 0.7 percent - and CDP Venture Capital Sgr - as announced Thursday by the former - have signed an agreement for the development of innovative startups and SMEs through the entry of the integrated group for sustainable mobility in Lombardy into the Corporate Partners I Fund, the multi-compartment fund that involves the main industrial and financial players in order to stimulate the growth of the innovation ecosystem in Italy in the strategic sectors of energy, manufacturing, services and infrastructure.

Specifically, with an investment of EUR10 million, FNM Group enters the InfraTech sub-fund of CDP Venture Capital Sgr's Corporate Partners I Fund, which specializes in the search for technological solutions applicable to infrastructure such as infrastructure design and planning and the monitoring, management and control of construction sites and infrastructure thanks to innovative solutions and technologies based on applications of artificial intelligence and internet of things, robotics and new materials.

Aquafil gave up 2.8 percent shortly after announcing that the first half of the year ended with a loss of EUR4.1 million from a profit of EUR17.7 million recorded in the same period of the previous year and a decline of 123 percent.

As of June 30, revenues stood at EUR311.1 million, down 11 percent from EUR351.0 million in 2022. Ebitda was worth EUR31.3 million from EUR51.5 million and down 39%. Ebit was EUR4.1 million from a negative EUR3.9 million as of June 30, 2022.

Among SMEs, Maps--down 4.5 percent--reported Wednesday that it had entered into a supplementary agreement for the early acquisition from minority shareholder MMW Srl of the remaining 30 percent stake in Informatica e Telecomunicazioni Srl and the simultaneous closing of the entire transaction. The early closing thus provides for a total amount of EUR2.1 million.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.3 percent to 34,988.43, the Nasdaq is up 0.6 percent and the S&P 500 is up 0.4 percent to 4,531.44.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0848 against USD1.0930 on Wednesday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2659 from USD1.2729 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD86.76 per barrel versus USD85.63 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,942.84 an ounce from USD1,944.38 an ounce last night.

Friday's economic calendar features China's manufacturing PMI, at 0345 CEST, British house prices, at 0800 CEST, and PMIs from major Eurozone economies between 0915 CEST and 1000 CEST. The UK's will come at 1030 CEST.

Coming up are the US employment data, with the private sector payrolls data coming at 1430 CEST among the most anticipated of the day.

Among the companies in the Square of Business, no particular events are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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